Mayor de Blasio’s America: A Pastrami Sandwich From Carnegie Deli

He relished eating one early Wednesday morning — at breakfast time, in fact — before sending out a picture on Twitter showing a similarly heaping pile of cured meat on rye with a one-word tweet: America.

The message was a retort to Jeb Bush, the struggling Republican presidential candidate, who, a day before, used the same one-word tweet to accompany a photo of a handgun engraved with his name. That post was met with criticism and mockery online, and on the front page of The Daily News.

The mayor’s press team decided that the only way to engage with a message they found ridiculous was by way of ridicule.

“The mayor and I talked, and agreed that America could use more pastrami sandwiches and less firearms,” said Peter Kadushin, a spokesman for the mayor who came up with the idea for the tweet.

Mr. de Blasio’s effort at poking fun became the object of a little poking back. Should a mayor, who ran on battling income inequality, be endorsing a $20 sandwich? Was the mayor hinting at America’s struggles with obesity with a sandwich large enough for two European tourists?

A spokesman for the city health department offered some advice for anyone considering making the sandwich a breakfast staple.

“Pastrami is a proud New York City tradition, but it has excess sodium,” the spokesman, Christopher R. Miller, said. “As everything in life, it should be eaten in moderation.”

A version of this article appears in print on , Section A, Page 20 of the New York edition with the headline: How de Blasio Sees America: as Pastrami. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe